1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the field of containers for storing liquids such as paint. More particularly, the invention pertains to a novel top or lid for a paint container that may act as a paint-roller tray or drip tray for use in applying the paint to walls, etc. with a roller or paint brush.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For industrial, as well as home use, paint is traditionally hauled to the work site in 1, 2-1/2, and 5 gallon buckets, stirred in the bucket to homogenize the contents, add color if necessary, and then poured into one or more wide, shallow, paint-roller trays to be lifted and carefully placed on the rungs or on top of a step ladder for the painter's use in wetting the roller and applying the paint. As anyone knows who has undertaken this task, pouring paint from a large container into a shallow paint-roller tray is fraught with inconvenience and difficulty from small splashes from the paint tray to accidental spills from the paint bucket and tray, to sloshing paint out of the tray while re-wetting the paint roller. The shallow paint tray is especially cumbersome because the paint is heavy and subject to sloshing and if the tray is tilted, it causes one side or end of the tray to become heavier than the other, requiring upward force to be used to lift the heavy side of the tray which often results in over-compensation and spilling of paint from the opposite side of the tray.
Purchasing a paint-roller tray requires only a small outlay of money. However, at the end of the day, there is the messy job of cleaning it so that by next use of the tray, there is no dried paint on the tray to be rolled on the wall with a new batch of paint. Accordingly, using a paint-roller tray is messy, causes unwanted spills, and is labor-intensive to clean following use.
The prior art has tried to solve these problems by combining the paint tray with the paint lid. U.S. Pat. No. 3,828,389, discloses a rectangular paint container having a lid hinged along one side where the underside of the hinge has an upstanding rim molded about a plurality of ribs that serves, when the lid is completely opened and braced at the free end by the carrying handle, as a paint roller tray. While this combines the tray with the container, the tray is useful only in a rectangular configuration that must be constantly filled with paint from an external source. Further, the container cannot be used on a ladder or other narrow support surface because the handle must support the paint roller tray apart from the container.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,843 discloses an integral paint can and roller pan combination where a specially made elliptical paint can is topped with a lid having a textured underside. Exposed pivot housings and support arms are attached to the upper surface of the lid that can later be arranged to support the lid in upside down configuration to act as a paint tray. While this is a novel approach to the problem, it requires a special and expensive type of paint can and, additionally, suffers from having exposed supports on top of the lid that can be bent, broken and otherwise damaged when similar cans full of paint are stacked on top of each other as is required in many stores and at construction sites.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,111 discloses a rectangular container having a lid whose upper surface is formed into a paint-roller tray, including an upstanding side rim and a textured surface, and having a pair of rigid flaps extending downward on opposite sides of the tray for assembly with projections molded on the outside of the bucket to support the paint roller tray on top of the bucket when the lid is loosened and slid partially toward one side of the container to provide access to the paint in the container. With the paint-roller tray exposed during periods of non-use, it is subject to be smeared with dirt, grease, tar, or other materials found about work sites. These materials would be difficult to clean from the ribs, slots, or other textures in the tray. In addition, the paint roller tray prevents stacking of like paint-filled containers without danger of damage to the rim and/or the textured surface. Further, the container must be made with special molded projections on the outside thereof which makes them more expensive and raises the price of the paint. Still further, the paint roller tray must be cleaned at the end of each use so that wet paint does not smear onto other objects placed near the lid.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,404,611 discloses a paint roller container and lid combination where the underside of the lid contains a textured surface and surrounding rim to serve as a paint roller tray. The combination is used by removing the lid from the rectangular container, turning the lid over and inserting the forward corners of the side edges into special receptacles mounted on the inside walls of the container. This special-configuration lid is only useful with the special-configuration container and is expensive to build with the interior receptacles. The lid must be cleaned after use, before replacing the lid, otherwise the paint container will be soiled.
Each of the above prior art patents requires support for the paint roller tray from the container itself. This requires the container to have some internal or external fitting provided and these fittings interfere with the stackable nature of the containers. Accordingly, it clearly appears there continues to be a need for a lid for use with ordinary paint containers, as well as special-configuration containers, that has a paint-roller tray integral therewith and supported solely by the lid and that does not otherwise possess the disadvantages of the prior art devices.